Contact lug



Aug 18,1970 Q'BERG 1 3,525,070

CONTACT LUG Original Filed Aug. 28, 1967 INVENTOR. QUENTIN BERG ATTORNEYS Int. Cl. H01r 11/08 US. Cl. 339-276 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A contact lug having a contact ridge formed in one side of the lug so that when two like lugs are positioned 3 Claims United States Patent in back-to-back relation the ridges cross at an angle to establish a point contact electrical connection between the lugs.

This application is a division of my copending application Ser. No. 662,147, filed Aug. 21, 1967, for Connector Block.

The invention relates to contact lugs which are secured in electrical connection on the end of insulated wires. The lugs have a flat lug portion with a contact ridge extending outwardly of the lug portion andoriented at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the lug portion. When two like contact lugs are in back-to-back relation the contact ridges cross each other at an angle to form a point contact electrical connection between the two lugs. Preferably the lugs are biased toward each other to provide contact pressure for forming an electrical connection at the point where the ridges meet.

Additionally, the contact lug may be used to form an electrical connection with another circuit element, such as a contact spring in a connector block. This connection is an improvement over that formed with a conventional contact lug having a flat lug portion because of the raised contact ridge which assures that a high pressure electrical connection is formed.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are top and side views of a contact lug according to the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the use of the contact lug for forming electrical connections in a connector block; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3, showing a pair of contact lugs in back-to-back relation.

Contact lug 10 is formed from relatively thin sheet metal and includes an elongated flat lug portion 12 and wire and insulation crimp ferrules 14 and 16. As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, ferrules 14 and 16 are crimped to an insulated wire 18 to establish reliable electrical and physical connections with wire 18.

Flat lug portion 12 extends outwardly of the wire and insulation crimp ferrules and is provided with a contact ridge 20 which projects away from the lug portion on the opposite side thereof from the wire and insulation crimp ferrules 14 and 16. Ridge 20 is ,oriented at an angle of roughly 45 to the longitudinal axis of lug 10. The contact ridge may be formed by punching out a portion of the lug 10 so that a depression 22 is formed in the lug portion 12.

3,525,070 Patented Aug. 18, 1970 Lug 10 may be used to form an electrical connection with contacts in a connector block 24 as illustrated in FIG. 3. Where it is desirable to form an electrical connection between a single lug 26 and a spring contact 28 in a connector block, the lug is inserted into one side of the block with the contact ridge 20 positioned adjacent the contact portion of the spring 28..'A conventional contact pin 30 may be inserted into the other side of the block so that when a cam pin 32 stresses the spring 28 the contact portions thereof engage lug 26 and pin 30. Because the spring 28 contacts ridge 20 along the crest of the ridge, the contact pressure is high between the two and a reliable electrical connection is formed.

Where it is desirable to form an electrical connection between two lugs 32, each like lug 10, the lugs are arranged in back-to-back relation as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 so that the two contact ridges 20 cross each other to provide a high pressure point contact between the lugs. When the lugs are inserted into a connector block and spring 34 is stressed, an electrical connection is established between the springs and both lugs. The spring provides the contact pressure required to make the electrical connection between the two ridges 20. The contact ridge is the only portion of lug 10 which extends below a plane defined by the lower surface 36 of lug portion 12. Thus when two lugs 10 are placed in back-to-back relation as in FIGS. 3 and 4 and the lug portions thereof are biased together, the contact ridges meet and are forced against each other to form an electrical connection. It is important to the formation of an electrical connection that no other portion of the lug prevent the two contact ridges from being held against each other.

Longitudinal ridges 20 are arranged at an angle of approximately 45 to the longitudinal axis of the lug portions 12 so that when two lugs are placed in back-to-back relation, the two contact ridges cross each other at and permit the establishment of a reliable electrical connection between the two like lugs at the ridges. Obviously the angular orientation of the ridges may be other than 45 relative to the axis of the lug portions in order to assure that the high pressure contact is achieved.

While the connector block 24 illustrated in FIG. 3 is like that disclosed in my aforementioned copending application, the lugs 10 may be used with other connector blocks or for other purposes than establishing electrical connections with connector block contacts.

While I have illustrated and described a preferred embodirnent of my invention, it is understood that this is capable of modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A contact unit for forming an electrical connection between two circuit elements comprising: a pair of contact lugs, each contact lug formed of thin sheet metal stock and having a flat elongated lug portion, means at one end of said lug portion for establishing an electrical connection with a circuit element, and a contact ridge formed on one surface of said lug portion and projecting outwardly therefrom, said ridge oriented at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis of said lug portion, said pair of contact lugs being positioned in back-to-back engagement with the lug portions and means adjacent each other respectively and the contact ridges of the two contact portions cross at an angle of 90.

4 lugs crossing one another to establish a point contact References Cited electrical connection therebetween. UNITED STATES PATENTS 2. A contact unit as in claim 1 wherein said contact lugs are identical, each contact ridge is oriented at an- 2,974,302 3/ 1961 E1115 339278 angle of 45 relative to the langitudinal axis of its respec- 5 FOREIGN PATENTS tive lug portion and the contact ridges of the two lug 1 184 311 7/1959 France 3. A contact lug as in claim 1 wherein no portion of either contact lug other than said contact ridge extends MARVIN CHAMPION Primary Exammer through a plane defined by the surface of said lug portion 10 H- MCGLYNN, Assistant Examiner from which said contact lug projects. 

